but wait, I'm getting ahead of myself.
You gotta start somewhere
hey, it gets better.
Curtis got the next one for the morning
This is already a pretty good wade-hike-wade, but I would have settled for this beauty for my fish for the day
waded in the hundred-year-old dam and caught 3 of these right away
Called Tony upriver and put him on the spot - the hundred-year-old dam is to the left
a nice view from the skinny water at the top of the hundred year old dam pool
Curtis near the top
And after he passed me up, looking upriver from the next riffle
looking downriver at Jake
still farther upriver, the weir above is the end of the wade
but I didn't hang, I beat back down to the cypress tunnel
and got my bass of the day
and not a bad way to end
ever seen a red-ear with his head as big as your hand?

I've caught some big red ears, but I think that's the best.
They're pretty smart fish. When you release them, they hang close to your feet and watch you until you leave their territory.

Curtis sent me some photos, and I guess I picked these to show.
his best lily pad bass

and great color on a yellow belly

a little lepomis sp. warmouth, a species you don't see posted too often

Curtis also aimed his camera at me with a little yellow belly and a lonsdale stogie

Mark, you should have connected with Curtis and ridden to join us. We fished 5 people and 3 kayaks came downriver, and we never got in each other's way.
There is so much great water here, you can't fish it all, and you want to keep moving to see what's next.

I seriously thought about it, but a friend was speaking at church and I didn't want to miss that. Plus I had hopes that Brushy Creek would be fishable, but it is still out of its banks in the section I wanted to fish. I will have to take a rain check.

Jimbo Roberts wrote:That Red Ear is enormous !
I'd trade that one for my day here in Wyoming.

Jimbo

posting on the forum - you must be home again
The red ear was a brute on my little Driggs River cane - I was standing on the gravel bar at the top of Schumacher's lake - it drops from ankle-deep to 8', and the fish was going everywhere. I couldn't decide if it was big sunfish or a stumpy bass, because when its back broached the water, it was wide enough to be a bass. Just had to hang on and wait it out. It made several good runs in the open water. It was also doing a really strange flop underwater, like maybe it had learned a way to wrench a hook loose. I've caught several big red ears and usually when you release them, they don't go away - they stay there and watch you to make sure you leave their territory.

We caught this same fish at the same spot for 4 years down from Wagon Wheel - she looks equally old, though not quite as well-fed